0 One of the many fine illustrations in "Golden Years " - The Digger. # This amusing drawing by Gill, reproduced in the hook, is called "The Licens- ing Tent." But perhaps it wasn't funny to the diggers!Help

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One of the many fine illustrations in "Golden Years " -

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The Digger.

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IT looks as though

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two memorable

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things will have

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come out of Vic-

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toria's Centenary

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year. First, the Jubilee Train, and now

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the book "Golden Years."

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The history of gold discovery has

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been told so often that one's first re-

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action to a new book on the subject is

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one of benevolent boredom. This, how-

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ever, will not be the public reaction to

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"Golden Years."

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This is partly because

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the book contains so much

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new material. Or rather,

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material that is well

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known to history students,

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but has never before been

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simply presented for

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public reading.

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Did you know, for in-

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stance, that the many

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warring monuments, each

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claiming to mark the

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locality of Victoria's first

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discovery, are all liars?

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In the great Clunes-Warran-

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dyte controversy, for instance,

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both must lose. Gold had been

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discovered in a dozen parts of

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the old Port Phillip Colony

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years before either town had

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been heard of.

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THE most significant of

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these finds was re-

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ported by The Argus in its

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issue of January 31, 1849. The

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heading was:

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IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

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PORT PHILLIP GOLDFIELD

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And the story ran . . .

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"We hasten to appraise our

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readers of the important dis-

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coveryof an extensive goldfield

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in this province, yielding the

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virgin metal in such quantities

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as will completely throw Cali-

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fornia in the shade."

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It seems a fine specimen was

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brought to a Mr. Brentani, a

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jeweller, by a young English

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shepherd, who found it in the

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Pyrenees.

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Mr. Brentani and an assayer

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named Duchene pronounced it

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to be "the root of all evil."

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All three set off for the

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Pyrenees, but the shepherd,

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whom the two gentlemen

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seemed to be treating arro-

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gantly, deserted in the night.

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The field was not rediscovered

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for three years.

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Journals were not so polite

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to one another then as now.

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The "Herald" (then a morn-

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ing paper) suggested that

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The Argus had been hoaxed.

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The "Daily News" said that

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"the whole affair was fudge."

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Perhaps the people of Mel-

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bourne Town were discouraged

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by this. Perhaps they were

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put off by their rulers, the

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squatters, who had been hush-

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ing up gold finds for years

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past, because they feared they

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would be ruined by a gold

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rush.

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WHATEVER the cause,

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Melbourne did not

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flock to the Pyrenees till

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years later, when gold had

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been found already at Clunes,

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Warrandyte, and Buninyong.

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Even then they would have

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been discouraged by official

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V R

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REWARD

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Lawlor & Black

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NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN

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William G. Baines

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* This poster echoes an

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event famous in Australian

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history. . . .

0 One of the many fine illustrations in "Golden Years " - The Digger. # This amusing drawing by Gill, reproduced in the hook, is called "The Licens- ing Tent." But perhaps it wasn't funny to the diggers!Help